Refastenable mechanical fastening systems are well known in the art. Typically, such fastening systems involve two major components, a prong which is joined to a substrate and engages with a complementary second component, the receiving surface. A projection of the prong of the fastening system penetrates the receiving surface and either engages or intercepts strands or fibers of the receiving surface. The resulting mechanical interference and physical obstruction prevent removal of the fastening system from the receiving surface until the separation forces exceed either the peel or shear strength of the fastening system.
Methods of forming free formed prongs require thermally sensitive materials having dynamic viscosities. However, to determine whether materials are suitable to form free formed prongs, one would have to test a plethora of polymeric materials using the time consuming "trial and error" method. Therefore, there is a need for an easy way of determining whether particular material will or will not form free formed prongs.
The art does not show a method of manufacture similar to screen printing, which produces free formed prongs from a thermally sensitive material having particular viscosity and rheology characteristics.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a method for producing free formed prongs using a thermally sensitive material having particular rheological characteristics. It is a further object of this invention to provide a free formed prong produced from such a thermally sensitive material.